Preparation of Ce doped ZnO microspheres and its visible-light photocatalytic activity

Abstract

Using zinc acetate, cerium acetate and glycerol as main raw materials, the Ce doped ZnO (Ce/ZnO) with molar doping ratio of 0.1%, 0.5%, 1.0%, 2.0% and 3.0% were prepared by hydrothermal method at 200 °C. The structure and morphology of prepared Ce/ZnO were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), electron spectroscopy (EDS) and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS). The visible-light photocatalytic activity of prepared Ce/ZnO was investigated by methyl orange which was used as simulated sewage. The results show that the optimum doping amount of Ce/ZnO is 0.5% Ce, and the band gap width of 0.5% Ce/ZnO is red-shifted from 3.12 eV to 2.79 eV. The morphology of ZnO and Ce/ZnO are all mainly spherical particles. The average particle diameter of ZnO and Ce/ZnO are all from about 3μm to 4μm. The 0.5% Ce/ZnO show highly photocatalytic activity for the degradation of methyl orange under visible light irradiation, and the degradation of methyl orange conforms to the first order power with the apparent rate in paper 0.018 min−1.